Active solar heating pdf

Thermal mass refers to the ability of a material to catch, collect and produce heat. Heat is absorbed by materials having high thermal mass like brick, stone, or tiles when the sunlight falls on them.

And when the sun sets, these high thermal mass materials release the heat absorbed to keep the house warm during the night. Active solar energy heating on the other hand is a process that involves a more complex method to generate electricity from solar energy. While passive solar heating only absorbs solar energy it does nothing more to enhance the energy absorbed. Whereas, active solar energy heating takes the help of mechanical equipment that in turn enhances the conversion rate of solar energy to heat.

But in the case of active solar energy heating, a solar collector is used which is a device that helps to store solar energy. A solar collector collects solar energy and then converts them directly into electricity or other usable forms, e. In this post, we have discussed an in-depth guide about active and passive solar heating, along with their advantages and disadvantages.

Additionally, we have also compared active vs passive solar heating. After reading this article you will be knowledgeable enough about active and passive solar energy. Finally, after knowing about both types of solar energy we can conclude that active solar energy is more effective than passive solar energy. But in terms of cost, passive solar energy heating is cheaper in comparison to active solar heating.

So, it is safe to conclude that both have their own usage as both types of heating use different methods for energy conversion. What do you think? Which one among the two is best? Active solar panels rely on external energy sources only. Like any other product, active solar systems also have some drawbacks. Passive solar panels depend heavily on the design, construction, and building of your home. Passive solar systems operate without reliance on external devices.

They use passive collectors to convert rays into the sunlight. The passive collectors are based on laws of thermodynamics which transfer heat from warmer to cooler surfaces. The overall success of a passive solar system depends on their overall orientation and the thermal mass of its walls. Passive solar systems are independent of all the external devices.

Solar panels capture sunbeams through glass windows that absorb and retain heat. Passive solar systems include these features:. PV systems are like other electromechanical systems. The material used may be different than that used for electromechanical systems but the systems of operation and interference remain the same.

The PV arrays are used to produce power when exposed to sunlight. Other specific components include the DC-AC power inverter, battery bank, system, battery controller and the specified electrical load. Short consideration material factors such as durability of wave radiation from the sun hits the flat-plate collector to materials, conductivity of materials, specific heat heat up circulating water that finally gets stored in a capacities of materials, resistivity of insulating materials, thermally insulated hot water tank.

Figure 1 shows a heat transfer efficiency convection in fluids , colour and schematic diagram describing the operation of the heat absorption of materials, reflective power of materials, microcontroller-based ASWHS.

Therefore, for a domestic electric Temperature Water storage tank Sensor T2 water heater of 1. The solar water heater would only be in operation in Cold water the hot mornings and afternoons. Therefore, a solar Fig. The microcontroller-based ASWHS schematic collector can be used in place of an electric water heater diagram during these periods. With world population increasing on a daily basis, there is a subsequent increase in the number It can be seen that cold water is supplied into the base of people that will require energy in one form or the other.

Temperature due to their continuous exploitation worldwide. In US households, heating water is second only to space heating and air conditioning in energy The in-flow and out-flow of water through the solar consumption.

For households in developing nations, collector is controlled by a control loop. The controller heating water is often the most energy intensive process, used is a microcontroller with the two temperature sensors and therefore the most expensive and time intensive[10]. To start the heating process, the Water heating is a major energy consumer worldwide. It is temperature of water in the storage tank must be less than required year round, making it a good application of solar that of the solar collector, else the DC pump remains energy.

Here, the microcontroller acts as two types: the active and the passive systems. The temperature increases.

However, for larger and the water is coolest. This will help the system controller faster production of hot water, active systems are more know when the DC pump should be excited to pump water reliable as presented in this study.

Methodology The auxiliary electric heater is included for situations where solar radiation is low. The initial operation of the 2. System Operation electric heater is initiated manually, but automatically, when the system controller disconnects it from the mains A solar collector consisting of copper tubes placed supply via an electronic switch.

The water is heated to the required temperature i. As water is taken from the storage tank, have lower solar irradiance compared to their northern there is need to refill it through the public supply. Monthly average solar radiation intensity for would allow in-flow of water from the public supply and Covenant University Lat. Locations with no adequate or good Mar Therefore, before any system planning, May From Sep Sun chart for Covenant University In every location, the sun moves from the east to the required to get an optimum position and angle of elevation west i.

The of solar collectors for areas of least shading. Shading is the position and elevation of the sun for a particular place at potential angular obstruction from the sun caused by different points in time in a day can be obtained using the various high rise buildings or tall structures which will sun chart; a program designed by Oregon University for reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the the purpose of graphically evaluating the amount of solar collectors [13].

The challenge of shading can be solved by obstruction on a particular location [12]. Figure 2 is the sun chart for extracted by the collector Qout under steady state Covenant University for the months of December to conditions, is proportional to the rate of useful energy June the following year.

This is expressed as follows: Using the sun chart, the solar collector of the automated solar water heating system can be installed at 4 locations where there is least shading in order to have the The rate of useful energy extracted from the collector best output from the solar collector for the chosen location. Systems Design 5 3. Therefore, it is Maps. The equation now becomes: 3.

Collector Area 7 In the design of solar water heating systems, the collector area is a very important design consideration.

The collector area is calculated by using the following 3. Collector Tubing equations 1 to 7 [14,15]. The aluminium sheets are then painted black to increase However, due to the rate of transmission of the the collector absorption coefficient. Collector Casing gets transmitted through the glazing and reaches the absorber plate as short wave radiation, equation 1 A wooden frame made of plywood is constructed to becomes: hold the collector and the glass that will be used for glazing.

Clauking using silicon on open the absorption coefficient of collector plate. The rate of heat loss Qloss is dependent on the collector overall heat loss 3. Collector Angle of Inclination coefficient UL and the collector temperature, and is given as: For a collector to function optimally, it should be inclined at a specific angle, and large deviations from the 3 optimum angle will result in significant losses in energy o where Tc is the collector temperature, C; and Ta is the produced [16].

In tropical regions, where latitude is less ambient temperature, oC. Covenant University is at a latitude equivalent to 6. Is Hot Water No Needed? System Controller Display Solar Mode Electric Heater, and Display Electric Mode A microcontroller is required for the overall system control of the automated solar water heating system. No No controller and its surrounding circuitry is as shown in the Yes Yes flow chart of Fig. An electronic switching circuit is required for the operation of the DC circulation pump and the auxiliary electric heater.

Display Unit - the liquid crystal display LCD It is relevant to display the atmospheric, water, and Stop collector temperature values, with either of the two heating operating modes Solar Mode or Electric Mode for the Fig. A digital display would make a controller microcontroller much more user-friendly and also allow data to be outputted in a more versatile manner.